28 August 2021 – I love to spend time at the beach. It’s a great place to sit and listen to the waves and think. I especially enjoy spending time at Fort Monroe, where the waves are loud, and the people are more scarce. Today was a perfect day at Fort Monroe. Hot but breezy, cool water and almost no people. As I walked into the water today, the first thing that came to mind was the author Virginia Woolf followed almost immediately by Rogue from the X-Men comics and movies. It was not only strange to think of them together, but it was odd to think of them at all.

As I go through life, there is nothing I want to do more than be able to take on the pain and burdens of those I love. There is nothing more painful for me than watching others hurt. My own pain is never as painful as watching others in pain. I wish I could just absorb their hurt, their frustrations, their agony, their pain. When people I love are in pain, I am in pain. But there is nothing I can do except go through my days seeing their pain and becoming so incredibly frustrated and sad that there is nothing I can do. I can’t help but think that was part of what drove Virginia Woolf to suicide. She, like I, could not help but hurt because others were hurting. If she had been able to absorb the pain of those she loved, she would have been able to carry on.